In Genesis 18, three strangers visit Abraham in the middle of a hot, dusty day, and Abraham and Sarah give them food, water, and a place to rest. They turn out to be visitors from God, and the return on the hospitality shown to them is rich: the promise of a son. At this news, famously, Sarah laughs.
Russian icon of the Old Testament Trinity by Andrey Rublev; between 1408-25
Not every brush with an agent of the Lord is as marvelous as this one, but encounters with angels do leave us forever changed. Who are some of the angels Harold encounters? Let us know your favorites in the comments below. Is Harold an angel to Queenie or to others?
2 comments:
One of the angels Harold encounters later ends up self-identifying as a "fraud" (I don't want to say too much for those who haven't finished reading). I think that particular angel is a great reminder of how the messenger and the message are not necessarily co-dependent. For me, this character's confession did not diminish their earlier words of inspiration. In my life, I have had to grapple with accepting a message as true or good even if it turns out later that the deliverer was not so. The saying, "don't throw the baby out with the bath water" comes to mind. Like many figures in Holy Scripture, Harold's angels are sometimes profound in spite of themselves.
That's the angel that really stands out for me, too, Dessa. Love this observation!
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